Saturday: July 18 (Final Day at MALT Orientation)

I'm going to transfer all of my blogs to my webpage.....I still do not know how to load my webpage.....work in progress!!!!! More to come......

Day 4: Frustration and Gary

It is 11:35 p.m. and I have just returned from our daily session. This day, from a 'Lego" standpoint, has been an absolute failure. I am extremely disappointed that I was unable to positively contribute to our 'Ninja Lego Robot'. I never played with legos growing up and have no programming/engineering skills. I wish this orientation could have included sports, anything involving teaching, or something in my 'wheel-house'. Instead my group was lucky that Cramer broke the tower and motivated Bill to build us a "Scissor-Rise".

While the day may have seemed like a disaster (at least from the 'Lego" perspective as previously stated), I am very happy that Gary is going to be one of our professors. His talk was the first that I really connected to because he talked about the role of technology in the classroom. One of the reasons I enrolled into this Masters program is because I want to be able to learn and utilize learning technologies to affect change in the classroom. I believe that Gary and his course will help!!

I leave tomorrow with more questions and worries then answers. Step-by-step!

Day 3: Absolute Intimidation - Return of School

Today's Blog entry is personal choice. I'm going to discuss that I feel very anxious about returning to school. Since completing my Bachelors degree, I have completed the teacher credential program and BTSA (Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment)...meaning I've been involved in school so rust is not my fear. My fear is moving beyond Bachelor degree thinking to Masters degree. The Action Research (AR) Project seems beyond my capability, but I know that if I just break everything into parts I will complete the tasks.

Now the Malibu Orientation Lego Project :)....that's a whole other 'beast' :)

Day 2: 24 hours later....how has my impression of community been challenged?

Before arriving in Malibu 24 hours ago, my impression of a community was Friday night football games, gossip at the coffee shop, drinks at the clubhouse after a round of golf, and other community interaction in my town. My internet community was simply email and instant messenger.

I knew social networking opportunities exist; however, I’m just not a social networking type of person. 24 hours ago, I was completely content with just my cell phone, email, and instant messenger. Today’s ‘Day 2 Orientation’ has helped me to break down those barriers, as I am now blogging, creating skype accounts, ‘TappedIn’, and utilizing mybanner.com to begin creation of my future webpage.

I have come to understand that a community is not a geographic group. My community here at MALT (Master of Arts in Learning Technologies, Online) Orientation consists of individuals from all over the United States. The book Here Comes Everybody helped introduce me to the idea that an individual can affect change reaching far beyond my geographic community.

I look forward to expanding my knowledge and comfort zone while learning through technology via the MALT program.

I have attached a link of an excellent clip by Jonathon Harris produced through TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design). Watch from the 11-minute mark the balloon clip.

http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_harris_collects_stories.html

MALT ORIENTATION: Day 1: The Journey Begins

Wow! Blogging! Today is day 1 of my year journey that will end in June 2010 with a Masters of Education Learning Technologies degree.

I am a very private person. Blogging is WAY out of my comfort zone for my thoughts and feelings are usually only shared with family and friends....but now they are for the world to see.

To any readers: Enjoy my journey as I attempt to open up, to ascertain new technologies and ideas, enhance my teaching practices with the ultimate goal of becoming a better educator, and more (wherever the journey leads).